On January 11, some 300 residents of Pittsburg, joined by members of the Sunflower Alliance, gathered to protest plans to develop a massive crude oil storage facility and rail transportation hub in an area surrounded by homes and close to the city’s downtown. WesPac Energy Group assures residents and city officials that the facility will pose no risk to public safety or the environment. Recent explosions, derailments and spills challenge such claims.
Pittsburg organizers are asking the community to come to the next City Council meeting and voice their opposition to the WesPac project on Tuesday, Jan 21, 7 PM, at 65 Civic Avenue. For more information, visit the website of the Pittsburg Defense Council.
Links to the stories and videos filed by Bay Area news organizations appear below.
Press coverage
Documentary tape of WesPac Rally, Jan. 11, 2013
This 11-minute video documents the march, rally and statements of Pittsburg residents voicing strong opposition to the WesPac proposal.
Activists protest massive expansion of crude oil terminal in East Bay
East Bay Express. Jan. 13, 2014
“The racially diverse crowd in Pittsburg on Saturday included many teenagers and families with children — the need to protect the community’s children was a theme of many speeches and signs.”
Pittsburg residents protest the WesPac-Pittsburg Energy Infrastructure Project
San Francisco Examiner, video and article.
January 11, 2014
Speakers sent the message that WesPac’s plans to store highly volatile crude oil carried to Pittsburg by oil trains, ships, and or extended pipeline from the Bakken fields of North Dakota were unacceptable and not necessary given advances and reduction in prices on clean energies.
http://www.examiner.com/article/pittsburg-residents-protest-the-wespac-pittsburg-energy-infrastructure-project?cid=rss
Trains carrying fracked oil may pose dangers to Bay Area
CBS KPIX 5 San Francisco, Jan. 11, 2014
“The environmental impact report admits to significant and unavoidable risks of air pollution, greenhouse gasses, spills and accidents (…) Federal investigators say that the chemicals contained in the oil from the franking process is even more dangerous than traditional crude.”
Watch video on KPIX website.
Proposed oil project draws protest
KQED blog, Jan. 11, 2014
“Oil companies are eager to get access to the lower-cost crude, and the way to get that crude oil to refineries on the West Coast is by rail. Valero, in Benicia, is looking to build its own rail facility, and there are other projects in the table in California.”
http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/01/11/proposed-pittsburg-oil-project-draws-protest/
Pittsburg residents protest crude oil storage and transfer project
CBS KPIX5 SF Bay Area, January 11, 2014
“Residents in Pittsburg took to the streets Saturday afternoon to voice their opposition to a project that would create a crude oil storage and transfer facility in their backyards”
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/01/11/pittsburg-residents-protest-crude-oil-terminal-project/